Malacanang Palace – - Atlas Obscura

Malacanang Palace

 

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Malacanang Palace is the official residence of the President of the Philippines and its existence is as old as the nation itself. The original structure was built as a summer house by a Spanish trader named Don Luis Rocha in 1750. It was bought by the state in 1825 as a summer house for the Governor General, the highest ranking Spanish official tasked to govern the colony. When a huge earthquake destroyed the official residence of the Governor General in Intramuros in 1863, the Spanish administrative district nearby, the palace became the official seat of power of the Spanish colonial rule. Since 1863, it hosted eighteen Spanish Governor-General, 14 American military and civil governors, and 17 Presidents of the country up to the present.

The sprawling Malacañang Palace complex includes several mansions and office buildings designed and built largely in the bahay na bato, a Filipino structure developed during the Spanish era adapted from indigenous bahay kubo houses identified with heavy use of stones on the lower ground to combat hot tropical climate, seasonal typhoons and occasional earthquakes. Plenty of buildings are built in neoclassical fashion foremost the main palace.

Know Before You Go

The best way to see the palace without really entering the ground is by taking the Pasig River Ferry that starts in Intramuros in Manila and eventually ends at Pinagbuhatan in Pasig City and vice versa. There are several stops along the way if you want to get off.

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